Road Ride Report SART (road not dirt): Strategic Reserves Depleted

After a couple of days off of riding my legs were feeling fresh, so I headed out on the longest ride of my career. I live pretty much right on the river trail at the beach. I frequently ride to Bum Park a little ways past Angel's Stadium. Once I pushed beyond that and today I pushed even further.

I continued on all the way to where Yorba Linda Park begins. The trail is beautiful between there and the Big A. There are trees, flowers, benches, bathrooms, no trash/graffiti, and a winding trail. On the beach side of the Big A it is quite less scenic with trash, graffiti, and non-park like setting (except for the couple of small parks).

Anyhow, I was feeling ok passing the 91, but had I feeling I might be pushing it. On the return trip with about 10-12 miles to go I was into my strategic reserves. 5-8 miles I was into Defcon 1 and just hoping to not have to call for an airlift. The last couple of underpass climbs I was in the 39-25 and barely making it up. I had to walk up the hill on the final stretch home.

I still hurt. It took me 2 hours to make it back, an hour and a half to get there. Puts a damper on my goal to SD in August. I am not ready.

 

Keep it up, you'll be ready.
Make sure to keep fueling on your rides.
Did you have that headwind going home?

 

Always takes me longer/more effort riding towards the ocean because of the headwinds. Give yourself a few days off, then go at it again!

 

If it makes you feel any better, you should see some of us roadies on the trails on the O.C... 100 miles in the Midwest was Zzzzzzzzzzz. With the wind here, it's a challenge. Riding to SD shouldn't be too bad though. Not like tackling Mt. Baldy or riding from S.D. to the O.C.

Keep building your mileage in your increments each week and you'll be OK. BTW, they say if you can ride 60-70 miles, you can ride 100 miles! The longest run I ever did when I set my marathon PR was 16 miles if that makes you feel better. That was less 2/3 the total mileage of the race.

 

I had a ride recently like that, and I got very nervous because I was up on the main divide near the peak when I started getting dizzy, and I was pretty much the farthest point I could've been from my car. My legs weren't even feeling bad and my breathing seemed ok. I don't know if it was the elevation, not enough during ride calorie intake, oxygen debt, or what. I stopped and sat down hoping I wouldn't faint, ate a gel and did nothing until I felt better. Anyway, the ride was completely counterproductive. I don't know the nutrition/physiology behind it all but I definitely got weaker from that ride. I know how it feels to be uncomfortably near the limit. Maybe look into a bike computer with a heartrate monitor built in? Definately rest up more than normal and don't go on a super long ride as your next ride and get a feel for where your body is at.

 

SART can be misleading and isn't the greatest place to train. Throw in some rollers and pacing is the trick. Don't go full out. Back it down to where you feel comfortable but are still working as you'll never develop if you don't push it some. As training progresses you'll be amazed at how fast you can gain ground. Nutrition and hydration are key. If you're looking for distance, train for distance, not speed. If you want speed, train for speed, it's really difficult to train for both in the beginning.

 

Right now I am more focused on adding distance. I want to ride to SD and take the train back. Ultimately doing some touring has been on my radar for a couple of years, but that is down the road. Right now century riding, even metric, is something I am looking to get into.

 

Most road riders consider SART junk miles just something to burn a few calories.The only time it will help improve your strength or speed is when you are pushing yourself into the wind. Find a trusted training guide or person and sign up for a century 2 or 3 months from now and follow the program.You will be able to complete any century ride with 4000ft.of climbing averaging about 15mph in survival mode.

 

Don't forget to re-fuel as you ride along. Your burning lots of calories so you need to replenish them. Nutrition before and during long rides is a huge factor whether you can sustain the pace.

 

I had two packs of GU Chomps, 1 bottle of water, 1 bottle of Cytomax. I often also have a Lara Bar w/ me. The two packs GU Chomps may not have been enough for what ended up being a 3 1/2 hour ride. I had waffles before the ride, but they probably burned off fast. I really like the chomps, blocks, etc. Way more than the gels I used to use. I am glad they were put in my bag for the Project Rwanda ride.

 

Rad. keep pushing yourself and try to vary some from SART. Get some real hills in and you'll find SART is merely a convenient place to ride, not a huge training help.

 

You should be replenishing calories every 30-45 minutes......so 2 packs of gels in 3.5 hours is not enough.

 

My rule of thumb is a GU and a waterbottle with Gatorade every hour. More if I am climbing or it is hot. Making yourself stay fueled is the key. On a long ride, you will never recover if you get too low. Listen to Painfreak - he does crazy miles!

 

SART is a cool trail. Wife and I ride it every Saturday and Sunday if we aren't on GMR. The trick is to have a plan. I see so many riders flying by at high speeds when they get a tailwind. Then totally suffer when they turn around. If you know you have a tailwind, back off a step and save some energy for the return headwind, and vice versa. Use the wind as a training tool, it builds character!


My wife on SART with a few forum members.

[video=youtube;fEwkwjqgMdA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEwkwjqgMdA[/video]

 

Remember this....

Hills will make you stronger,

Winds will make you meaner.

 

well said Mike...perhaps when I ride home from work/school with a headwind, my meanness carries over to the next day??

 

I did the same ride he did but on the SGRT and threw in an additional 30 beach front miles the next day.I took it easy averaging 15.8 mph.I fueled myself wth one six in.Philly cheese steak and 100 ozs of water.If I would have only drank 32 OZs of water I would have bonked also. This is an easy recovery ride no need for gels or electrolites unless you are racing hydration is the key on this ride.